Are any deals.wooters part of the 1% ?

Apr 30, 2012 4:28 AM

No I'm not trying to occupy anywhere, I'm just curious. Does anyone know the cutoff salary to be inducted into the 1% club? Do these people try to save money as much as the average wooter? Would they go to the grocery store and hand the cashier 20 coupons in order to save a couple bucks? Would they search online for good deals before making a purchase?

Do people stop caring about nickels and dimes when they're wealthy or are they actually better at saving money and got wealthy because of this skill?

I would personally still try to save money whenever I could if I became rich. Getting a great deal on a purchase simply makes me happy.

The anger of the occupy folks comes from a sense of entitlement, not fairness. Entitlement is the reason the housing bubble happened (everyone deserves to own a home!) Entitlement is the reason Americans have such a staggering load of credit card debt. (I want what I want and I want it now!)

In general, the poor stay poor because of choices. As mentioned above, they drink, smoke, play the lottery, have car payments but no health insurance and no savings. "Broke" means you have no money but "poor" is a lifestyle choice.

Here's a guy with no arms and no legs who became not only wealthy but has an amazing positive outlook on life. Kind of makes the excuses you hear from "poor" people seem invalid:

@moosezilla: really? At the federal minimum wage of $7.25, two people working 40 hrs per week should be right around that $30,000 figure.

Since a very small percentage actually are getting minimum wage, I have to wonder what kind of jobs you & hubs have had?

Oh, and another sad fact... here in california, you could be earning that top 10% figure and still qualify for welfare/food stamps, if you throw in a few kids.

Octo-mom gets around $2,000 a month in food-aid of one sort or another for her & her 14 kids.

As for the original question about if the wealthy care about costs and saving money, in general, absolutely yes... That's how you become wealthy.In general, lower-income people tend to buy things they can't afford and not shop around for the best deals. As an example, research has shown that approximately 80% of all coupons are redeemed by the wealthiest 20% of shoppers.

Dang, I guess y'all are against me! Jk, but in the future I WILL be part of it, most likely more. And dude above, yes they do pay taxes. What the big complaint is this. Companies have stock. Every year, a company makes so much and the stock is kinda based off of performance. Well the company pay's taxes on the income and such. So the stock may go up based on income. Those that invested have paid taxes already. All they are doing is "storing" their money in a company. If the company increases in value, so does the stock, and that money is increased. What they are pissed about is having to pay taxes on the money they make, even though the company already paid taxes on it! Sure some have some loop holes, but that is a minority of of the 1%

@kamikazeken: really. because dh is disabled, and has been for a while. thus his income is based on what he was earning before he got disabled. and no, cola isn't a realistic amount-doesn't even cover cost of medicare increase.

@atd15: not talking about those taxes, I'm just talking about income taxes.
even then, the bottom 50% rarely pay property tax since they typically rent, the "lotto tax" as you call it is a voluntary tax on people who are bad at math, Student loan interest is a choice as well, and if you DO have student loan debt, I sure as hell hope you were smart enough to at least select a major where you could actually get a job. People who are "poor" shouldn'e be paying a dime in alcohol or tobacco tax, since they shouldn't have disposable income enough for those items, and your "state tax" typically only targets the wealthiest 50% just like the federal income tax. Same for "city tax" (which is a new one to me, we don't have those that I know out here). The other taxes they do pay such as Gasoline tax is reasonable since they're using the roads as well. The sales tax is the fairest tax of all, since just about everyone has to pay it.

@atd15: those "taxes" on poor people going to the ER are being paid by the top percentage as well, those who are responsible and pay their bills or have insurance.

When I was 19 and earning less than $12,000 per year, I was still smart enough to carry a high-deductible catastrophic health insurance plan that cost me around $30 per month. Anything small, I paid in full myself. Anything major like cancer, surgery, serious injury and the policy kicked in.
I see people without health insurance who have no problem blowing $200 on booze on a typical weekend night. My opinion is that if you're un-insured, and are able-bodied enough to have a job, when you go to the ER, your two options should be PAY IN FULL yourself, or go hang out in one of our new, specially designed "suffering rooms".

I've hesitated to comment on this. I want to point out that those numbers seem a bit off. Of course, that's income. People with wealth don't necessarily make income, in any taxable sense.

@snapster (of course) is in that rarified group of people, but I believe he may also be earning income in his role as manager or whatever it is of Woot Enterprises.

As an aside to our friend @kamikazeken, I find it financially sensible to not have health insurance (other than the catastrophic), and I usually get at least a 10% discount on the fees charged because I can write a check.

@kamikazeken: How do renters not pay Property Tax. Do yo think that a Landlord does not pass expenses on to the Tenant?
And The USA pays more per capita non healthcare than any other country, yet has the highest infant mortality rate, and the lowest life expectancy.
So where is that money going.
I will tell you exactly where. Drug companies that are overcharging when compared to the rest of the world, Insurance companies who are acting as "middle-men" when we don't need them, and hospitals that are run as businesses, and not places of care.

@atd15: sorry, but I refuse to argue further with people who insist that black is white, and that down is in fact up.

@moosezilla: I'd move someplace where cost of living was cheaper.
I sympathize with your own situation, it sucks to be on disability, someone in my own immediate family is permanently disabled. As someone who pays a significant amount in taxes, I would think you would be one of the people the most angry with all the people who don't pay any at all.

Do you know if those numbers are earned or unearned income or both? They seem extremely low to include both, so I'm almost willing to bet that they are based only on earned income (salay, wages, tips) and do not include investment income.

@teevoo: not according to the government's own statistics! :-P
There are always exceptions to the norm. The government's statistics show that only around 50% of Americans pay any annual income tax.

I'm curious... not counting medicare tax, social security, and state/local taxes, and AFTER YOUR REFUND, how much (approximately) did you pay in taxes on your less-than $33,000 of income? And, are you single, do you own a home, and do you have any kids?

@ohcheri: Those numbers are much lower than I had expected too. That puts Obama and tons of other politicians in this category. No wonder the Occupy Wall Street et. al movements got nowhere. You can't protest against law makers and expect them to do what you say. I found this article on wealthy members of Congress:

The sad thing is that the bottom rung of the 1% isn't extremely wealthy. If my household income (I live with my parents) was doubled it would put us safely into the 1%. We don't have any fancy cars; the newest one we have is a 12 year old Ford van. We don't have a vacation house; we still have a mortgage on a 40 year old 4 bedroom house squeeezed next to one just like it. The 5 children went/ are going to state universities and had to take out loans to do so. Do you think doubling income would make a huge difference or is the anger directed at the wrong place.

The anger of the occupy folks comes from a sense of entitlement, not fairness. Entitlement is the reason the housing bubble happened (everyone deserves to own a home!) Entitlement is the reason Americans have such a staggering load of credit card debt. (I want what I want and I want it now!)

In general, the poor stay poor because of choices. As mentioned above, they drink, smoke, play the lottery, have car payments but no health insurance and no savings. "Broke" means you have no money but "poor" is a lifestyle choice.

Here's a guy with no arms and no legs who became not only wealthy but has an amazing positive outlook on life. Kind of makes the excuses you hear from "poor" people seem invalid:

@jseureau: It's really not strange at all, this is exactly why the wealthy have money. They don't spend it if they don't have to.

A really good book is "The Millionaire Next Door" which basically talks about how the guy next door to you could very likely be wealthy but since he lives in a regular house and drives a 10 year old car you wouldn't know it.

@figgers3036: I totally agree with you there. The Occupy Movement was a complete mess the way it was carried out. The group had a mob mentality and I can guarantee that the majority of people who supported it did not have a complete understanding of the facts. A movement should have been directed at selfish CEO's who gave themselves bonuses and flew first class while their companies were suffering from record losses. Or what about all the people who true to flip real-estate with variable interest rate loans? Didn't the recession stem from the crash of the housing market- a crash that was brought about by people who couldn't pay the insane mortgage interest rates?

@atd15: I don't understand how a hospital isn't a business, especially after the USA has de facto demanded that religious institutions that used to run free hospitals have been run out as a means of enforcing the first amendment.

@gopvifootball: Flipping was an issue, and CEO overpay in a few cases is an issue, but it seems like a very wide brush. The mortgages can be traced to bad mortgage sellers, bad creditors getting loans, and bad housing evaluations.

I'd bet less than 15% of CEOs really fall into that category of golden parachute-ism.

@figgers3036: That's what I'm saying. People shouldn't be against people simply because of how much they earn. If people want to start a movement, based on facts, targeting individuals or organizations that have done something wrong or dishonest then I would back them 100%. But, like you said, the occupy movement seems to be based on jealousy.

@kamikazeken: Since you said you were curious... My gross income is ~$20k, I am single with no kids, and I rent. I paid $1150 in federal income tax. IIRC, the only time I didn't end up owing taxes was the (half) year I made $8k.

@gopvifootball: The housing crash happened because people allowed mortgage lenders to convince them they could afford a house when the facts were they really couldn't. Then every time these "suckas" had a chance they took out a HELOC and bought cars, boats and other depreciating consumer goods. It's the classic "big hat, no cattle" syndrome that keeps poor people poor.

The lenders are only half responsible, the borrowers need to take responsibility for their decisions, too.

the reason capital gains are not taxed as income is because
a) corporations already pay taxes on the profits before they pay the shareholders a dividend. Then those dividends are taxed AGAIN at the 15% CAPITAL GAINS TAX paid by the shareholder.

b)The government, both Dems and GOP, feel that this is an appropriate tax level for capital gains. The "1%" don't make that rule, the people YOU elect to office did.

Please realize that a huge portion of stocks are owned by various retirement accounts/funds, most people's retirement income will depend on those capital gains to have a comfortable retirement. There are valid reasons they aren't taxed as income.

Everyone I know who is vocal about taxing the rich more so "they pay their fair share" frequently buy stuff on Amazon, specifically to avoid paying their state sales tax, but they never declare those purchases on their state tax returns and pay the "use tax" that they're supposed to pay.

@spacezorro: "I am well within the 33% tax bracket.. so that makes me part of the 5% I guess. Making money is nice.. Having a third of it taken back is not."

For 2011, using a filing status of Head of Household), I was well into the 25% bracket. Yet my effective federal income tax rate was only 8.12% (tax paid less any refund divided by total income). Note also that I have almost no investment or other unearned income.

Even if I add up my effective income tax rates for NY City (2.4%), NY State (4.2%) and Federal (8.12%), and add the 5.65% FICA/Medicare tax to get the actual 20.37% tax I really paid, it was still no where near my marginal tax bracket of 25%.

You should check your actual numbers... (it still won't be nice, but it won't be as bad as you think).

Woot.com is operated by Woot Services LLC.
Products on Woot.com are sold by Woot, Inc., other than items on Wine.Woot which are sold by the seller specified on the product detail page.
Product narratives are for entertainment purposes and frequently employ
literary point of view;
the narratives do not express Woot's editorial opinion.
Aside from literary abuse, your use of this site also subjects you to Woot's
terms of use
and
privacy policy.
Woot may designate a user comment as a Quality Post, but that doesn't mean we agree with or guarantee anything said or linked to in that post.

Not a farewell, just a forced redirect.

It's true, Local.Woot is no longer, but please don't despair.

Never-ending savings are still to be found on Deals.Woot each and every day, so come on in. Don't think of it as a time for tears. Think of it as a way to bring us all closer together under one roof.

Sorry

This is only for people who have bought woots

We restrict voting to users who have purchased something from one of the other Woot stores. It's not just because we want your money (which we do) - it's the best way to be sure all the votes are coming from real people and not spam-bots or phony accounts. The best way we can think of, anyway. For now.

You can always get voting rights by buying something from one of Woot's other sites:

Purchases through Deals.Woot don't count, because in that case you're not buying anything from us. And we don't have your account information for those purchases.

If you think you've bought something from Woot before and still can't vote, make sure you're logged in with the same account you used to buy from us.

Geez, why so negative?

You have to vote up more before you can vote down.

Don't get us wrong. Negativity has its place. And downvotes are just as essential as upvotes when it comes to making Deals.Woot a useful place to find deals.

But when your votes lean so heavily toward the dark side, we have to wonder. Go vote up a few things. Accentuate the positive for a little while. It'll do you some good, and it'll do the site some good, too. Then you can get back to dealing out the smackdowns, OK?

Too late, we all heard you!

Hmm... you're wanting to take your vote back?

Well, that's a bit tricky. See, we do a lot of stuff with your vote, using it to work out the popularity of what you voted for, compare that to all the other things voted on, tally up our leaderboard, work out your reputation. Someday we'll do a little cartoon showing just how hard your vote is working.

Anyway, taking votes back messes all that up, so we give you five minutes, in case you just mis-clicked. After that we've got to say no take-backs. Luckily, votes are free, so feel free to throw them around left and right wherever you see fit.